Pakistan plans to fence and plant landmines along sections of its border with Afghanistan to stop militants, a foreign office official has said.

Speaking at a press conference, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said the move would stop "militant activity from Pakistan inside Afghanistan".

Afghanistan rejected the plan saying both countries need to tackle "terrorists in a real manner".

It has long blamed Pakistan for cross-border attacks by the Taleban.

Islamabad denies the charges.

'Not practical'

"In keeping with our policy to prevent any militant activity from Pakistan inside Afghanistan, the Pakistan army has been tasked to work out modalities for selectively fencing and mining the Pakistan-Afghanistan border," Mr Khan said.

Mr Khan also said that as the fencing and mines would be on the Pakistani side of the 2,430km (1,510-mile) border, an agreement with their neighbor was not needed.

Additional paramilitary troops will also be deployed along the border, he said.

Criticizing the plan, Khaleeq Ahmed, a spokesman for the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said: "We must confront terrorists in a real manner.

"Fencing or mining the border is neither helpful nor practical. That's why we are against it. The border is not where the problem lies," he said.

Afghanistan has rejected Pakistan's previous offers to fence the border saying it would divide tribal populations who have strong family ties across the boundary.

Former sponsor

Afghanistan says Taleban leaders plot some of their attacks on Afghan targets from Pakistani soil.

Pakistan was once the Taleban's main sponsor, but after the September 2001 attacks in the US, Islamabad joined the US-led "war on terror".

The Pakistani government denies it continues to support the militants or that it could do more to stop them crossing the porous border, and points to the deaths of hundreds of Pakistani troops fighting pro-Taleban militants in the country's tribal areas.

The authorities say that more than 3,500 people have been killed in Afghanistan in 2006 - the bloodiest year since US-led troops ousted the Taleban five years ago.

Photo caption

Taleban fighters